Bpost has begun prioritising deliveries to its own parcel lockers, prompting concern from newsagents that operate Post Points and depend on them for a significant share of their income.
The postal company confirmed on Saturday a report by Het Belang van Limburg. Customers ordering from retailers such as Bol or Zalando who live in areas with enough Bbox lockers will now only be offered delivery to a locker or a post office at checkout.
The option of delivery to a Post Point or Parcel Point will no longer appear in those cases.
Bpost spokesperson Mathieu Goedefroy said those other collection points remain crucial to parcel deliveries, but added that it is also “logical” for the company to use its own distribution network where possible. While Bboxes and post offices are owned by Bpost, the company must pay a fee to use other collection locations.
He said the system remains dynamic. Bpost has now installed almost 3,000 lockers, but during peak periods such as the end-of-year holidays, when up to 800,000 parcels a day are delivered, the 1,400 Post Points and Parcel Points will still be essential to its network.
They will also remain important in areas where no lockers have yet been installed, or when nobody is at home to receive a parcel. Customers can still choose a Post Point as their preferred location in the Bpost app, Goedefroy said.
The system has been tested in about five municipalities in recent months, and customer satisfaction remained stable, according to Bpost. The spokesperson also pointed to the strong performance of Bboxes, which are accessible around the clock. Retailers affected by the new rules have been informed.
The reaction from sector federation Perstablo has been one of concern. Chairman Yannick Gyssens said handling up to hundreds of parcels a day is an important source of income for many newsagents.
He warned that more newsagents could disappear, as other revenue streams such as lottery products, newspapers and magazines are increasingly shifting online. He also noted that tobacco products will again be allowed to be sold in supermarkets from 2027, after the Constitutional Court struck down the ban.
Gyssens said self-employed operators had been presented with a fait accompli. “Bpost brought us in about 15 years ago because its bookkeeping no longer added up. We helped build e-commerce, and now Bpost is choosing its own lockers because its bookkeeping once again does not add up,” he said.
He added that an earlier proposal by Public Enterprises Minister Vanessa Matz for a new management contract had also called into question funding for Post Points. “We are the ones taking the hits,” Gyssens said.
